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Monday, May 31, 2010

That's Beach Bronze cream bronzer on the left, and my sad excuse for Marine Life on the right.

So, I was hoping all weekend that I would get Marine Life today, I ordered it on the mac.ca site before it went out of stock, emailed mac about it too, and found out that it's not available, but still wondered if it would come in my package, well it didn't. I really really pissed off.

If anyone is selling any Marine Life highlight powders, please comment here, I would love to buy one off you. I was so excited to get it and it just didn't happen :(

I know this collection is a long ways away, but are you planning on getting anything? The re-release of Stereo Rose MSF is getting a lot of people talking, that will be a big seller. I gotta admit I don't even know of Stereo, I think it was before my MAC days, but I've wanted Petticoat for a long time and held off paying crazy prices for it because I knew it was coming out with this collection. So I'll probably get the two MSF's from this collection. I have By Candlelight already and Comfort I think is too glittery from what I've read.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

The end of the month is almost here, so here comes my monthly favourites for... May. These are products that I've enjoyed using the most this month. I like choosing products from every category, like one from brushes, eyeshadow, foundation, perfume, skincare, lip products and so on, just makes it easier to narrow it down, cause I use a lot of different things throughout the month.

1. MAC Face & Body Foundation: I have raved about this product before but it was in pretty heavy use this month, so I chose to include it. It is great for summer, great for days when you don't want to wear a lot, but still want to cover up some flaws.

2. Miss Dior Cherie Perfume: I got this perfume around Christmas, it's one of my all-time favourites, very sweet smelling, it's got notes of caramelized popcorn and strawberry in it, really pretty, totally recommend it and I love the cute bottle with the bow on it.

3. L'oreal Copper Caravan Eyeshadow Quad - This quad is really nice, it has lots of bronzey colours, which I like for summer months. It really lights up your eyes. This is from L'oreal surprisingly, one of those limited edition types they sell in drugstores from time to time, I picked this up a year ago or so.

4. MAC Golden Bronzer - This bronzer is foolproof and great for lighter skintones. I use it with a pretty heavy hand and it adds a nice contour to my cheeks, one of my holy grail products for sure.

5. Revlon Lustrous Lipgloss in Lilac Pastelle and Peach Petal - These lipglosses are super pigmented and not sticky. I love the purple one especially, finally tracked it down while I was in the states this month and am really pleased with it.

6. Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin - My original UDPP was running low, so I decided to pick up a new one in sin. This is the XL bottle, which I think makes sense cause I use this every time I put on eyeshadow. I hear that some girls wear just this on it's own for a light shimmery look on your lids, but for me I find it just disappears after a while, so I use it as a base, just like I would with the UDPP.

7. Sonia Kashuk Powder Brush - One of two of the SK brushes that I own, this one does shed a bit, which is annoying, but I love the size and fullness of it to apply powders and bronzers. And the handle is really cool.

8. Garnier Skin Renew Brusher Cleanser - I got this as a tester two months back and love this product, it has quickly become included in my daily routine. It smells good, does not irritate my skin and the brusher is really handle to clean your face nicely.

Friday, May 28, 2010

MAC has come out with a new mascara called Opulash. Here is the press release: "The biggest, baddest, bouffant lashes EVER are making noise with their sexy sweep. Opulash creates aesthetic extremes when it gets going, for a dramatic end look. Superlative separation, sublime innovation: Everything a M·A·C Artist lives for!"

It comes in only one colour, Bad Bad Black, sounds Bad? It retails for $16.50, on the MAC Canada website. I am not a big fan of MAC mascaras, however, the only one I've used is zoomlash, I get free samples of that one all the time with online orders. I hear that Plushlash is actually pretty nice. Mascara to me is one of those things where I could buy an expensive YSL or Dior something, and I am sure they are good, but they dry up so fast and I have sooo many drugstore ones that it's really not worth my while.

Also, with my email from MAC today, I found out you can get free standard shipping, until June 6th, 2010 for any Canadian orders, no code needed. There is also a current free shipping code "Beach" that is valid until May 30, 2010.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

I got some of my MAC goodies from "to the beach" today! I love ordering online because it means I can get it the next day and I don't have to fight my way to get items that sell out quickly. I was so excited about this collection and lemming it for the longest time. I was so happy when I saw it yesterday, I ordered at like 3am and got it today!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

I received my American Apparel nail polishes today from the Friends and Family sale. I ordered 4 of the new summer colours: L'Esprit, Butter, Summer Peach and Malibu Green, (pictured above). Also ordered Palm Springs from the regular line, but it was back ordered, so that one should be coming in a few weeks. I really like AA polishes, they are quite runny, which makes for easy application, but they are very opaque, so you only need two coats. The colour selection is great and I like the square bottles, although they take some getting used to for swatch photots. These 4, aside from Maliby Green are pastels, light colours, which I've been buying a lot of lately. And Malibu Green was the standout colour in the new collection, very vibrant and unique.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Warm weather calls for sunscreen, although it's not just summer when you should be wearing it, it's important to wear it year round to prevent early onsets of aging, skin damage and other bad stuff. I am guilty of not wearing sunscreen year-round I admit it. On the weekend, we went out to the beach for fireworks, it was Victoria Day for those in Canada, and I was out all day in the sun. Granted I had an spf 15 face moisturizer and spf 6 in my foundation, but I could still feel my face was a bit hot at the end of the day. What sunscreens do you use? which ones are your favourite? I want one a light feeling one, with no funky smell.

The ones I have currently are:

The Body Shop Vitamin E SPF 15 Moisture Lotion: "Moisturize and protect your skin from the sun and damaging environmental aggressors with a lightweight, easily-absorbed, SPF lotion." I find this too thick for summer, I should of bought the Vitamin C one (I have it somewhere, but lost it) as it's cooler feeling, or the Aloe one. However, I love the Vitamin E line and thought this would be good.

Coppertone Nutrishield SPF 70. I bought this last year, gotta check the expiry date to see if it's still good to use. However, I have the body one, instead of the visage and I find this too thick as well. This one is supposed to prevent premature aging waterproof and all that jazz.

Cetaphil Daily Facial Moisturizer SPF 15: This one is nice, I like the pump and it's not too thick. They have an spf 50 one too.

Aveeno Ultra-Calming Daily Moisturizer SPF 15: Nice pump on this one too, not crazy about the texture either. I want to try the Aveeno Continuous Protection Sunblock with SPF 30 for Face (pictured below). Or the Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Chicago, I miss it already. I am big city kind of girl, I want places to go and stuff to do. Chicago is like the cleaner version of NYC to me. Here are some visual representations from my trip... I was waiting for some of the photos that my sister took, she has a fancy DSLR, but she never sent them so.. you'll have to deal with my crappy pics.

Flamingo Sculpture, Federal Center Plaza

Chicago Art Museum

Buckingham Fountain (the weather was pretty bad that night, very windy and cloudy as you can tell by the pic)

The Bean

Crown Fountain, this changes to different faces, there are two faces facing each other, and they make faces at each other and then water pours out of their mouths, kind of cool.

Dude shaving in a gas station parking lot. Yep.

Marina City. If you are familiar with the band, Wilco, you would recognize these towers right away. They are really neat, the first few floors are parking and then apartments.

Chicago River

Train tracks above

Trump Tower in the distance

View from the top of Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower) This was a gorgeous day, great visibility.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Over time, I have accumulated quite the ELF collection, I have most of their products from the studio line and some of the regular line. Their products retail for $1-$3 or so, so you don't expect the quality to be amazing, but you can be pretty surprised by how great some of the products really are. I will go over today, which products I find to be worth picking up. Of course, makeup is not a "must have" and you not NEED to have any of these products, but if you are interested, they are nice ones to have and want. :)

1) ELF Powder Brush, which I did a review on yesterday, you can check that out, if you like. In short, this brush is amazing, soft and dense. I have three of these and use them over any brush to apply liquid foundation, it gives you an airbrushed and smooth application.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Let me tell you about this brush, it is awesome. I have a pretty substantial makeup brush collection and this is the THE brush that I reach for the most. It is great for liquid foundation, powder foundation, blush everything, totally multi-purpose, and is only $3 on the ELF Cosmetics website. I own 3 of these and never want to be without one. Everyone talks about this brush, lots of people already have it and the hype is all true.

Flat top brushes are really effective in applying, stippling and buffing foundation in well, leaving your skin looking airbrushed. This brush is quite dense too and firm, but soft, so it does the job well. It has never shed on me and doesn't smell like funk when I received it.

ELF Powder Brush on Left, MAC 187 on Right (to show fullness)

To show the denseness (is that a word?) of the ELF powder brush I have compared it with the very popular MAC 187 above. You can tell the size is similar and the ELF brush is denser, however the 187 is duo fibre so half the bristles aren't showing there cause they are black and lower down. I think these two brushes do a similar job though (I am not saying they are the same brush) and I reach for the ELF and the 187 just sits there looking pretty. When you first get the ELF brush, it comes in a plastic protective cover and it won't look this big, but it will fluff out over time. It washes well too, dries quickly and I haven't had any problems with the colour bleeding or hairs falling out.

ELF Powder Brush on Left, MAC 187 on Right (to show size)

As you can tell from above, the MAC 187 has a bit taller bristles. but the size is pretty much the same. The ELF is made of taklon bristles, while the MAC has both synthetic and animal hairs I believe.

ELF Powder Brush on left, Sonia Kashuk Flat Top on Right

Another similar brush to the ELF is the Sonia Kashuk Flat top that I received got while in the states. However, the head is like half the size! The Sonia Kashuk is really nice though, gets under the eyes and in smaller places that the ELF cannot. I like that about the ELF though, it covers a wide area on your face, so it makes foundation application much quicker too. Sorry the brushes are dirty, they get used regularly!

ELF Powder Brush on left, Sonia Kashuk Flat Top on Right

And from the side you can see the size difference too.

The only con of this brush is the craftsmanship, on all three of my brushes, the part where the ferrule connects with the handle has come loose. It is nothing that glue can't fix, or just twisting the brush in place and does not at all affect the performance of the brush, but it's just annoying. I wish they would make these brushes better quality in that respect. I have read this happening to others too, so it's not just me, and all three isn't a coincidence. See picture below..

All in all, I think ELF has a winner here for sure. This brush is awesome! If they charged $15 for this brush, I would still buy it, but I probably shouldn't tell them that. ;) If you don't have this yet, what are you waiting for?

Van D'Go was definitely the prettiest colour in Essie's "Art of Spring" collection. I only picked up two from that collection because I thought the China Glaze "Up and Away" colours were so similar to them. After the disaster that Essie Tart Deco was (turning bright orange with topcoat) I didn't even attempt to put a topcoat on this one since I didn't want the same thing happening and I have read that it does, which is a shame cause this is a lovely colour. Lots of people expected this to be a dupe for MAC's Seasonal Peach (which I have and it's got horrible application), and it's close, but Seasonal Peach is more pink and this is more peach coloured. Essie... another one that looks amazing in the bottle, but on it just doesn't measure up.

Essie Van D'go

Light pinky peach colour. This was 3 coats, with basecoat, and no topcoat. Using a topcoat will make this turn orange and ugly. The application was bad, streaky and a huge disappointment. :( This would look awesome on tanned skin, but I don't see myself wearing this one too long.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Pigmentation on these is fine, I just never ever reach for this palette, the colours are too wild. Pass!

NYX Barely There/Champagne/Root Beer

This is my most used trio, love this one! Great neutral colours and good pigmentation. The champagne in here is especially my favourite.

NYX Platinum Pink/Salmon/Jazzy Bronze

Another great trio! Awesome pigmentation on these. I use this one a lot too.

NYX Nude/Taupe/Dark Brown

This trio was probably my biggest disappointment. The colour combination is really nice, but the pigmentation on these is weak. They are chalky as well. Pass!

NYX In the Woods

I think this trio is a bit newer because the packaging is shiny, and all my other ones are matte. I love this trio as well. The colours are great. The first colour reminds me a lot of the single Iced Mocha shade. Very good pigmentation!

NYX Spring Leaf/Lime Green/Green Tea

If you like greens, you will like this trio. The pigmentation is pretty alright. I don't wear this often, I admit, it's kinda bright as well, more for summer.

So there you have it, all my single and trio shadows. I would also recommend the NYX jumbo eyeshadow pencils if you are planning on ordering, they are great to use as bases underneath these shadows. The trios are also nice cause they are the exact same size as MAC shadows, so you have the often of depoting them out of this packaging and putting them in a full palette. Any questions or comments about anything, please leave a comment!